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TwoMorrows Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-1-60549-113-4 ISBN-10: 1-60549-113-6
by G LEN CADIGAN
TwoMorrows Publishing Raleigh, North Carolina ISBN: 978-1-60549-113-4 $27.95 softcover
DAVE COCKRUM
Futurians, Warhawk, Thunderbolt & Lightning, other characters art ™ and © Estate of Dave Cockrum. Photo by Anthony Taylor. Creature from the Black Lagoon ™ and © Universal City Studios, LLC. Zorro ™ and © Zorro Productions, Inc.
The Life & Art of
DAVE COCKRUM
From the letters pages of Silver Age comics to his 2021 induction into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, the career of Dave Cockrum started at the bottom and then rose to the top of the comic book industry. Beginning with his childhood obsession with comics and continuing through his years in the Navy, The Life and Art of Dave Cockrum follows the rising star from fandom (where he was one of the “Big Three” fanzine artists) to pro-dom, where he helped revive two struggling comic book franchises: the Legion of Super-Heroes and the X-Men. His later work on his own property, The Futurians, as well as childhood favorite Blackhawk and T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents, cemented his position as an industry giant. Featuring artwork from fanzines, unused character designs, and other rare material, this is the comprehensive biography of the legendary comic book artist, whose influence is still felt on the industry today!
The Life & Art of
by G LEN CADIGAN Introduction by Alex Ross
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction by Alex Ross.....................................5 Chapter 1: 1943–1970 Part I: The Early Years........................................7 Part II: In the Navy.......................................... 11 Part III: Fandom’s Finest................................ 14 Chapter 2: 1970–1974 Part I: Breaking In........................................... 23 Part II: The Legion of Super-Heroes......... 26 Part III: Side Projects...................................... 33 Chapter 3: 1974–1977 Part I: Enter the X-Men................................. 43
Chapter 6: 1985–1995 Part I: Catskills Country..............................107 Part II: Odds ’N’ Ends....................................108 Part III: Brave New World...........................114 Chapter 7: 1995–2003 Part I: Claypool & Company......................127 Part II: The New Millennium.....................132 Part III: World Wide Web.............................136 Chapter 8: 2003–2006 Part I: Battle in the Bronx...........................143 Part II: The Last Years...................................148 Part III: The End..............................................155
Chapter 4: 1976–1982 Part I: Two’s Company................................... 67 Part II: An Artist of Mars............................... 70 Part III: On Staff................................................ 72 Part IV: The In-Between Years..................... 78 Part V: Return to Xavier’s.............................. 81 Chapter 5: 1982–1985 Part I: Tomorrow Is Now............................... 91 Part II: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Artist........................... 93 Part III: Nightcrawler...................................... 95 Part IV: Return of the Futurians................. 97
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Chapter 1: 1943–1970
O
I. The Early Years
n November 11, 1943, David Emmett Cockrum wrote in 1968. “They bought me a subscription to was born to Emmett Ernst and Fern Council Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies, which, at the time, Cockrum in Pendleton, Oregon. According to featured ‘Bugs Bunny,’ ‘Mary Jane and Sniffles,’ and a his brother, Doug, “Illinois was the family home. My pair of kid brothers that were some kind of rodents — dad was in the Army. He was commissioned into the pack rats or gophers or something. Previous to that, I’d Field Artillery in 1935, but he was in the reserves, and never seen a comic book before. so he wasn’t called to active duty until the beginning “That was the start of it all. Suddenly, I couldn’t get of World War II. Illinois was his home — his longenough of comic books! I was only about five years old time home — and also my mother’s longtime home. and we lived on a farm, so naturally I didn’t have much When he was called to active duty, chance to go looking for myself. I they were assigned to Pendleton, had to survive on the generosity of Oregon, for a while. They were also my parents. Their generosity only in Madison, Wisconsin, for a while. extended, alas, to an occasional Walt Anyhow, that’s how Dave came to Disney in addition to my subscripbe born in Pendleton, because of my tion, but I hoarded those comics, dad’s military assignment there.” stuffed them under my mattress and Later the family moved back in every nook and cranny, mainly to to Illinois, where, at an early age, keep my younger brother and sister Cockrum’s artistic leanings became away from them.”2 In 2001, the artist explained to apparent. “I think I first started Jay McKiernan, “My folks were both drawing when I discovered that one teachers and they got me reading end of a pencil makes a funny mark early... [They figured] it was a useful on paper,” he recalled years later. “I’d way to encourage my reading skills. guess the first things I tried to draw Little did they know what they were were Bugs Bunny, Gene Autry, and 1 starting.”3 monsters!!” A young Dave Cockrum looks on. “For as long as I can remember, Photo © Estate of Dave Cockrum. In 1968, Cockrum also recalled, he sketched and drew,” Doug Cock“Then came my parents’ second big rum reflected, “and when he was young, my mom mistake. Even bigger than the first, perhaps. My dad, and dad thought that that was a good thing, and they who was teaching in a high school at the time, brought enjoyed watching him draw, but they had different home a comic he’d confiscated from a student called things in mind for him, in terms of making a living. Boy Crime Fighter,4 a violent, crime-ridden mag about a kid who ran around knocking the crap out of adult I guess when we were very young, the grand plan was villains; his favorite punching bag was an evil-looking that Dave was supposed to go to West Point, and I was character with a saw-toothed, iron lower jaw whose supposed to be a doctor. And as things worked out, name was — you guessed it — Ironjaw. This opened Dave became a cartoonist and I went to the Air Force a whole new world! I had never imagined such things Academy. I became the professional military guy, and existed! Imagine — a comic book without sickeningDave pursued his own interests.” ly-cute little animals parading around getting into Comic books were a fixture in Cockrum’s life early petty troubles! Even at that tender age, you see, I was on. “Years ago, my parents made a great mistake,” he 7
Three of Cockrum’s earliest artistic influences (above): Wally Wood in the pages of various EC Comics, Blackhawk’s Dick Dillin, and Captain Marvel Jr.’s Mac Raboy. Weird Science ™ and © Willam M. Gaines Agent, Inc. Blackhawk and Shazam hero ™ & © DC Comics.
getting pretty sick of the cartoon animal.”5 From there, Cockrum was introduced to his first major superhero character, the Big Red Cheese himself. “Then I discovered Captain Marvel and I was on my way. I’d sneak off from my folks when we were in town and slap down my dime for a big 52-page issue of my hero, slip it into my shirt and smuggle it back into the house. I bet my folks still wonder why I always used to make crinkling noises when I bent over. I told ’em it was a rusty stomach. “I hid Captain Marvels in drawers, in socks, on closet shelves, under bookcases, everywhere, like a pack rat gone crazy. This was treasure indeed!”6 The artist also didn’t limit his enjoyment of Captain Marvel to a passive role. “I played Captain Marvel with joyous abandon, tying a blanket around my neck and leaping off the porch shrieking, ‘Scissors!’ — I couldn’t pronounce ‘Shazam’ — and beating the daylights out of my brother, who looked suspiciously like Dr. Sivana to me.”7 In 1951, disaster struck. “We moved off the farm when I was about eight,” he later recalled. “In packing everything, my folks discovered the hoary morass of comic books stashed away around my room. Horrors, they demanded, where did all these violent, evil crime-fighter comics come from? What happened to all the nice ‘funny books’ we bought you? I’ll tell you, Mom; they went out the damn window, that’s where 8
they went. “Anyway, you can guess what happened. My beloved Captain Marvels went up in smoke, and as it turned out it was his funeral pyre, because it was shortly thereafter that he went out of print. I only saw one or two more before the end, and my mom found and burned those, too.”8 The preceding pattern haunted Cockrum throughout his childhood. “Every time we moved my comics got it right in the old bazoo. Since my dad was a Reserve Air Force officer, now recalled to active duty, that meant a move every three years or so. I’d spend three years building up a new collection only to have it go up in smoke when we changed duty stations. As I got older and wiser, my hiding places grew more devious and complex, but my mom was always more devious and complex than my hiding places, and poof went the comics.”9 Cockrum’s tastes also matured over the years. In 2001, he told McKiernan, “I guess Wally Wood was one of my earliest influences, and his work remains some of my favorite to this very day. Dick Dillin’s work on Blackhawk stood out as well, kindling in me a lifelong love for the Black Knights. I caught the tail end of the Fawcett era, too, and loved C.C. Beck’s work on Captain Marvel (back when he was allowed to use his name as the title of his book) and Kurt Schaffenburger on Captain Marvel Jr. Much later, I searched out back
issues of Junior’s book by Mac Raboy, whose work inspired and thrilled me with its skillful and beautiful line work. Joe Maneely’s work on Atlas’ (later Marvel) Black Knight remains a vivid memory of my early comic reading. Later on, the Silver Age work of Joe Kubert, Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson, Carmine Infantino, and Jack Kirby gave me very strong and positive influences.”10 In 1959, the Cockrum family moved to Colorado when Lt. Col. Cockrum was assigned to Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. While there, the artist met high school friend, Jerry Thompson, who went on to work as a graphic designer. “I met him in the band, actually,” Thompson recalled. “We both played trombone, and we became friends because we were sitting next to each other. Then I found out that he was also in the same ancient history class that I was, and we were talking about different things, and we started doing cartoons about history. The teacher would take the cartoons that we would make and hang them up on the wall. He would use them [as] illustrations of pieces of ancient history. It was fun.” The two artists participated in what Thompson has labeled “cartoon wars.” “We both had a good, mutual friend. His name was George Young, and his dad worked on the base. So they lived right next to the base, and both Dave and I would go over to his house a lot, and just fool around. That’s kinda where we started having our cartoon wars. We’d sit down for hours, just sitting (clockwise from top) Cockrum’s parents during a 1961 Air Explorer there, drinking Coke, and he’d initiate some kind ceremony, his high school yearbook photo, and the Air Explorer patch of a cartoon, and then I would reply to that car- designed by the artist, courtesy of Tom Hoffman. toon, and we’d go back and forth. George was our Dave, sometimes Mike, and myself. Dave, George, and audience. The three of us would just hang out together. myself were the closest. Can you imagine the three of “What we’d do is we’d draw up a situation, usually us walking through downtown Denver, on the way to a putting one or the other in jeopardy, and then that terrible movie, singing Stan Freberg’s ‘United States of person would have to reply to that jeopardy. And it America?’ It boggles the mind.”11 would just develop one thing after another, and we’d While still in Colorado, Cockrum was also a member sometimes incorporate, let’s say, a superhero-type situof his father’s Air Explorer12 group. Fellow member ation, or something like that, but other times we would Tom Hoffman recalled, “He designed a patch for our just draw each other. They would get a little more uniforms, and it was of an osprey... he called it ‘Oscar absurd as we’d keep going, and some of the cartoons the Osprey.’ I think that his dad had it sent to China, toward the end, were really, really strange.” or Taiwan, or someplace, and had it all embroidered. Thompson also remembered some of the extracurSo we had this beautiful color patch that we had on ricular activities in which the teenagers often engaged. our left shoulder of our uniform which was completely “We formed a little cadre of friends and every Friday unique. No other group around had anything like that, we would try to go to a movie, usually grade triple-Z, and Dave designed that.” and then to a Sambo’s (how un-PC) restaurant. We Hoffman also remembered, “I used to see his sketchwere a strange group. Dave, George, Jim, another pad. He’d show these fantastical drawings that he would 9
“They arrive here at least a month later than they hit the stands ‘back in the world.’ Andrea has been sending me mags for almost a month, and I’m still finding even older ones here that I never saw before, so I’m going nuts with great rapidity; I’m so far behind now, I’d have to be three months ahead to be a month behind. Does that make any sense?”32 About his fanzine work that appeared in The Yancy Street Gazette during the period, he later told Groth, “At the time, I thought it was good... but I don’t any longer. I try to keep my work constantly improving, because I can sit down and show you half-a-dozen weak points in any piece of art I turn out. I want to get rid of these weak spots. One thing I lack is polish. I just don’t think my stuff looks professional. Maybe that’s because I know who did it, though I’m a lot better than I was in the YSG days, but still have much room for improvement.”33 On top of his fanzine efforts, Cockrum was also published closer to home. “I do a monthly comic strip for the ship’s newspaper,” he told Groth. “It’s called ‘Bubblehead.’ [It’s] a typical ‘Beetle Baileyish’ strip about life aboard a submarine tender. ‘Bubblehead’ is a Navy term for sailors aboard Polaris submarines (Bubble-Machines).” He was more reflective when he commented, “I suppose every guy with an artistic ability who was ever in the service has to put up with the same thing. Funny, though — nobody wants to pay for it. They all think it comes under your Navy duties.”34 One advantage of serving at a station which dealt with “Bubble-Machines” was not immediately apparent to the artist when he was first transferred to Guam. “Somehow through the mail, [Gary] ran into a guy named Dave Cockrum,” recalled Howard Groth, Gary’s father, in the 2009 book Comics As Art: We Told You So. “Dave Cockrum was an artist. Gary used a Dave Cockrum drawing as a cover for one of his publications. Dave Cockrum was
a sailor in the Navy, stationed out in Guam on a Polaris submarine tender. I was working for the Polaris program. I went to Guam and handed the issue to Dave Cockrum aboard that ship. He was quite thrilled with that. No one else was getting hand-delivered Fantastic Fanzines.”35 It was also while located in the Pacific that Cockrum created the character that he later dubbed his alter ego. “Back in 1968, I was in the Navy, and stationed on the Pacific island of Guam,” he wrote in 2002. “My first wife, Andrea, and young son, Ivan were with me. Since base housing wasn’t yet available to us, we rented a rickety, tumbledown, rat-infested shack in the jungle. ‘The Boonie House,’ as we called it. “We had a lot of typhoons out there. It was seasonal, the way hurricanes are here. During one terrible storm, we rode it out in the Boonie House, with lightning, thunder, and 120 mile-an-hour winds shrieking overhead. Debris whirled through the night skies, and some of it crashed onto our corrugated tin roof. “To put it bluntly, we were scared sh*tless. Pardon my French. “Trying to keep our minds off the storm raging overhead, we occupied our time making up comic book characters. Frankly, I don’t remember most of them. Probably they weren’t too terrific. But there was one pair of characters I remember well: the Intruder, and his demon sidekick, Nightcrawler. “The Intruder was a character like Batman or the Punisher, who relied on strength, intelligence, and weaponry to combat crime. Nightcrawler was a demon — yeah, a real one — who had screwed up on a mission from Hell, and rather than go back and face punishment, he stayed on the mortal plane and hung around with the Intruder. “This Nightcrawler wasn’t a nice guy. He was nasty, vicious, and animalistic. He ran up and down the sides of buildings, and bayed at the moon like the Hound of the Baskervilles.
Shazam heroes ™ and © DC Comics.
17
Cockrum at his drawing board in Guam. On the left are the Intruder and his demon sidekick, Nightcrawler (also seen below in a ’70s pre-X-Men pre-X-Men model sheet). Scan from Fantastic Fanzine Special #1 by Manny Maris. Black Knight, Nightcrawler ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
He came and went in bursts of flame and brimstone — I kept that part, later on — and he had a prehensile tail. He was a very frightening character.”36 Kline recalled, “...I was really getting into it. I’m like, ‘Oh, and he should look demonic, and he should this and he should that... and he should have a tail...’. It was kind of ironic, because I have a Jewish background, and when I was on Guam, I actually had a guy ask me if he could see my tail, because he had been taught by the missionaries that Jews had tails. So I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s put this into Nightcrawler.’” She continued, “But obviously, David was the creative talent, and he kept just drawing these sketches, and we just got more and more into it, and... that was how he looked from the beginning.” Cockrum continued, “Sometime [later], the late and legendary Jack Kirby came up with a character called simply, ‘The Demon.’ His demon was named Etrigan, [and] was tied into the Merlin legend. Well, my idea was no longer unique, so I dropped the demon aspect.”37 While still in Guam, Cockrum hadn’t forgotten about his family back home. According to his brother, “I was at the Air Force Academy while he was in the Navy, and still at the Academy when he got out. As a matter of fact, just as a sidelight, when I accepted my appointment to the Air Force Academy, I was also offered an appointment to the Naval Academy, and when Dave found out about it, he called me from Guam and said, ‘For Chrissakes, whatever you do, don’t go in the Navy!’ ...[But] my boyhood dream had been to go to the Air 18
Chapter 2: 1970–1974
I
I. Breaking In
n June 1970, twenty-six year old Dave Cockrum Warren that I said to give you work.’ And in those days, moved to New York City to pursue his dream of if Jim Warren heard Neal’s name, he’d go, ‘Salaam!’ So I becoming a professional comic book artist. As part would get these jobs, and I would bring ’em in to Neal of military cutbacks that year, he received notification first and show him, and he’d say, ‘Well, fix this, and fix of his “Early Out” in the spring, and it enabled him to this, and fix this,’ and I’d fix ’em and take ’em over to 1 arrive Stateside months earlier than expected. Warren. [He] would say, ‘Neal Adams is telling you “I got out [of the Navy] in 1970 and came straight to what to fix, isn’t he?’ and I’d say, ‘What? I don’t know New York, just in time for Phil Seuling’s convention in what you’re talking about.’”5 Cockrum’s first work for the publisher was the sixJuly,” he told Comic Book Artist’s Jon B. Cooke in 1999. page story, “Prisoner in the Pool!” which appeared in “I met all kinds of professionals there and then went Vampirella #11 (May 1971). Coinup to DC first, but their attitude was cidentally, the story was written by that I was close to professional qualBuddy Saunders, one of the original ity, but just on the wrong side of it.”2 While at the DC offices, he met publishers of Star-Studded Comics, with editor Julie Schwartz, to whom to which Cockrum had been a conhe had written for years. “I used to tributor just one year before. His send him sketches of characters next story appeared in Creepy #39 when I was just a fan,” Cockrum (May 1971 — “C.O.D. — Collect recalled in 2003. “When he hired me on Death”), followed by “Swamp years later, he pulled a stack of those Demon” in Creepy #40 (Sept. 1971 drawings from his desk and showed — a story which he both wrote and them to me. Gawd, they were awful! illustrated on spec while still in After that, every time I’d visit, he’d Guam),6 and “A Change of Identity” in Creepy #42 (Nov. 1971). Cockrum take them out again, or threaten to. rounded out his Warren career with He was always kidding around.”3 When work was not forthcomtwo stories in Eerie: “Oh, Brother!” ing from the publisher, Schwartz Cockrum at the 1970 Comic Art Conven- in #36 (Nov. 1971), and “Yesterday walked Cockrum around the offices tion (seen in Fantastic Fanzine #13). is the Day Before Tomorrow” in #39 and introduced him to Neal Adams. (April 1972). All stories ranged from Adams, then the industry’s biggest star, was aware of six to eight pages in length, and Cockrum inked all of Cockrum’s work from fanzines, and upon being introhis own artwork. duced, said, “Oh! It’s the famous artist from Fantastic About his time at Warren, he later said, “It would Fanzine.” have probably benefited me if I had stayed on and done “I knew he was being sarcastic as hell, but it was more stuff... because I was learning black-&-white nice to hear that he knew who I was,” Cockrum later techniques that I later quit using.”7 At the time, the artist wrote in Eerie #33 (May 1971), “Thanks to lots recalled. “And Marvel wasn’t ready for me yet, so Neal of help and goodwill from Neal Adams and trial script Adams sent me over to Warren. So that was where my 4 from Jim Warren, I seem to be making that first tentafirst professional stuff appeared.” In 2002, the artist told Glen Cadigan, “Neal got me tive step up the ladder. With all the helpful people I’ve those [jobs] by telling me, ‘Okay, go over and tell Jim met in the business, I may just make it.” 23
in ’99. “When I went to work for Murphy full-time, II. The Legion of Super-Heroes that was probably when I left the ‘Shattuck’ strip.”21 “I met [Dave] up at DC Comics,” Anderson rememIt was while working as Anderson’s assistant that bered in 2006. “He corresponded with Julie while Cockrum’s first major opportunity arose. “That’s when he was in the Navy. Dave and I had something of a the Big Break came along,” he recalled in 2000. “The common background. We were both in the Navy... ‘Legion of Super-Heroes’ had been dying a slow death Not that we worked on anything having to do with the the previous couple of years, floundering as an occaNavy, but it’s just a common background, and somesional backup feature in the Superboy book. It had thing he could reminisce and talk about.” reached the point where the editorial staff couldn’t In 2002, Cockrum recalled, “I spent a year working even find an artist who wanted it.”24 as background inker for Murphy Anderson and got a Created in 1958, the Legion of Super-Heroes was lot of excellent training from him. Murphy was a whiz a superhero team that lived one thousand years in with a brush. I never got as good as he the future, and whose membership was, but my line cleaned up and my consisted of teenagers from different stuff looked a lot more professional.”22 planets with different powers. In their About the newcomer’s artwork, original story, the founders of the Anderson said, “I just liked that he was team traveled back in time to invite trying to draw well. Many of the artists Superboy to join their organization, of that period were very [influenced only to trick him in the future as a test by] Jack Kirby. And Jack Kirby was a of his sportsmanship. The Boy of Steel marvelous artist and a super draftsbecame an honorary member, and man, but his draftsmanship was covcontinued to have adventures with the ered by the way he exaggerated things. team for years. It wasn’t that obvious. When he wanted The Legion’s publishing history, to draw something realistically, he however, was somewhat sketchy by could draw it as well as anyone, but he 1971. After a long run in Adventure drew his figures and constructs [with] Comics, the feature had moved to the a foreshortening that couldn’t be done back of Action Comics before it found without distorting [the] drawing, and itself in the pages of Superboy as a perithat was a thing that attracted so many odic backup feature. With the retirefans. I don’t think that they stopped to ment of the Legion’s original editor think that he was a master draftsman and co-creator, Mort Weisinger, from before he started to do these crazy DC Comics in 1970, the strip had been things with the drawing. And David, inherited by longtime employee (and like almost everybody else, loved Jack former Doom Patrol editor) Murray Kirby’s work, and they wanted to Boltinoff, who felt it more logically draw like that, but many of the people belonged in Superboy. With inventrying to draw like Kirby never realtory scripts stockpiled by Weisinger ized that they had to build on a good, Cockrum’s new design for Lightning in his final months to ease the transifirm basis, a knowledge of drawing. So Lad. Lightning Lad ™ and © DC Comics. tion, given its infrequent appearances when Dave showed up and learned to under Boltinoff, it looked as if the Legion was doomed draw well, and made that [the] primary thing, that’s to fade into obscurity. when I liked what he was wanting to do. I could see “Murphy let it slip to me that it was available,” Cockthat he was on the right path.” rum remembered. “I was outta there so fast I left skidIn his introduction to Legion of Super-Heroes marks on the linoleum. The Flash himself couldn’t have Archives Volume 10, Cockrum wrote, “For the first gotten to editor Murray Boltinoff ’s office any faster. I couple of jobs I was terrified of ruining irreplaceable arrived drooling on his desktop and he made me back artwork because I really had no idea what I was doing, off and count to one hundred before he’d even talk to but Murphy was patient and good-humored and slowly me.”25 23 I began to learn the trade.” Cockrum wasn’t unprepared for the day when his big break would come along. “I actually had done three 26
sample pages of Legion stuff,” he recalled in 2002. “...three pages was all there ever was. I was simply doing samples in hopes of landing a job — any job. I had also done three pages of a Captain Marvel Jr. story, two pages of a Haunted Tank story, and a whole chapter of an Adam Strange story. I still have the Cap. Jr. and Haunted Tank pages; I sold the Legion pages some time ago, and I have no idea whatever became of the Adam Strange stuff.”26 Despite his enthusiasm and a lack of viable options, it wasn’t a given that Boltinoff would entrust the feature to the eager young artist. “Boltinoff was a pretty good editor in all ways, save for the discovery of Fresh Talent,” writer Mark Evanier wrote in 2004. “He went through the motions of looking at and critiquing submissions, and he never actually said, ‘Sorry, I never hire a kid when there’s a veteran around who needs work.’ Still, that’s how it worked out. Murray was simply more comfortable dealing with experienced writers and artists, and he also felt the company had a moral obligation to keep the old-timers employed before giving work to new-timers. This is not an ignoble philosophy, but he may have taken it a step too far.”27 “As I was a rank newcomer, Murray wasn’t entirely convinced I was up to the job,” Cockrum recalled.28 He later told Glen Cadigan, “I got it on the premise that since I worked for Murphy, he would oversee it and make sure that I didn’t do A sample page drawn by Cockrum as an aspiring artist which helped him land any crummy work. So Murphy was kinda the “Legion” assignment. Legion of Super-Heroes ™ and © DC Comics. like quality control for the strip.”29 In 2002, Cockrum recalled, “When I landed the In 2006, Anderson remembered, “On ‘The Legion ‘Legion’ assignment, I ran around like an idiot gushof Super-Heroes,’ some of the pages, he laid them out, ing to all my friends about getting a superhero strip [and] very roughly indicated where the figures should and some of them — Bernie Wrightson, for instance go, and the action they should be taking and so forth, — took a sort of ‘Yeah? So?’ attitude, superheroes not but not actually articulating them to the point where being Bernie’s area of interest. Looking back, I’m a little he could ink them. And we’d go over the work, the embarrassed for myself.”30 layouts like that, and I would make suggestions. Then That same year, the artist also remembered, “The maybe he’d go ahead and tighten them up and I’d tell ‘Legion’ was my very first series assignment. I was him, ‘Well, let’s fix this, and let’s fix that,’ and so forth, young and enthusiastic and I put as much of myself but that’s about the extent of it. In other words, the into the strip as I possibly could. I loved creating editor expected me to turn in my usual job. He wasn’t worlds with rich detail, I loved drawing exotic people, expecting me to experiment and come in with newer hardware and spaceships, and I had a ball with the and different things.” ‘Legion.’”31 Earlier, he had told Jay McKiernan, “I saw 27
A pre-X-Men Nightcrawler, with and without the Outsiders.
Nightcrawler ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Reflecto ™ and © DC Comics. Typhoon, Trio, Quetzal, Power Boy ™ and © Estate of Dave Cockrum.
long before DC used it,” he recalled in 2003. “[They were] meant to be a group of supporting characters, and included Reflecto and Power Boy, both of whom were to become Legionnaires at some point.”46 Also included in the group were Trio, Typhoon, and Quetzal, characters Cockrum created himself. In 2002, he elaborated, “I saw them as a supporting group more than anything else. Either irritants to the Legion, or people who wanted to help the Legion, or needed to help the Legion, or something. But I never had specific plans on any of them.”47 Similar to the Outsiders, Cockrum also designed a second group of characters to be introduced in the “Legion” series, although for a different purpose. “I’m also working on a new group of supervillains, with five or six members,” he wrote in 1972. “They’ll be led by a delightful lady named either Belladonna or Foxglove (both are poisonous flowers). I haven’t decided yet whether the lady in question is a vampire, but she certainly looks like one. A couple of her cohorts are named Sidewinder and Manta; I haven’t worked out the rest yet. The name of the group is still under consideration, but I’m leaning in the direction of Devastators or Annihilators.”48 In 2002, he said about the group, “I never really had a chance to think about them. It was pie in the sky. 32
I showed them to Murray and Cary, and they weren’t willing to take the whole group. They only just took the one character [Tyr], and that was a disappointment. But I think it would have gotten real interesting, especially the brother-sister dynamic between Wolverine and Belladonna.”49 In 2002, he wrote, “And before anybody asks, my Wolverine predates Marvel’s by nearly a year.”50 He later elaborated, “Manta was sort of a humanoid manta with a biological jet engine. He could fly. And that would have been interesting to work with. Sidewinder was a reptile, so it was a real mixed group. I think it would’ve been fun to work with, but I didn’t have any real plans worked out yet.”51 Between the Outsiders and the Devastators/Annihilators, only two of the characters originated by Cockrum ever saw publication in a comic book: the villain Tyr, and an updated version of Nightcrawler. The characters Quetzal and Typhoon later loaned elements to his work on X-Men, but they were never printed in a comic book story themselves. As late as 2003, the artist had not given up on using the characters in a potential Elseworlds story. “If I get to do one, that’s what I want to do. Aside from trying to borrow Nightcrawler. If I couldn’t [do that], I would come up with a character similar to Nightcrawler.”52
Unfortunately for the artist, his plans were defeated by DC editorial. “I emailed the Legion editor [Stephen Wacker]... and asked him about it, and he said, ‘Sorry, we’re not doing many Elseworlds stories anymore, and I’m full up on other stuff.’ Meanwhile, I’ve got two or three threads on the [Legion message] boards of fans who are demanding that I be returned to the Legion.”53 Regarding the potential mini-series, Cockrum elaborated, “I wanted to use the other Legionnaires that didn’t make it in [Quetzal, Typhoon, and Trio], and pit them against the [Devastators]. I think that would’ve been a real hoot.”54 When a member of the Legion World message board commented, “I would love to see this book!”55 the artist’s answer was succinct: “Me, too.” 56
III. Side Projects While working on “The Legion of Super-Heroes” for DC, Cockrum also provided illustrations for the science fiction magazines Amazing Stories and Fantastic Stories, published by Ultimate Publishing. According to editor Ted White, “I would have artists that I knew well enough that I could assign a story to them and I wouldn’t see the artwork until it was actually published in the magazine, ’cause they’d turn it directly into the publisher. But they were consistent enough and good enough that I didn’t have to worry The team called Devastators/Annihilators/Strangers, from the collection of Ted about that, and Dave was in that Latner. All characters ™ and © Estate of Dave Cockrum, except Tyr ™ and © DC Comics. group.” Cockrum also first got involved with designing He liked my work and we started talking, and after a model kits during this period, notably for Aurora while he asked if I would be interested in designing Plastics. In a 1995 interview with Anthony Taylor, model kits. I was, as I had built models all my life. He he remembered, “A friend of mine [Mark Hanerfeld] invited me to come out to Long Island and meet with was a good friend of Andy Yanchus who was a project the people at Aurora.”57 manager at Aurora. The three of us all turned up at one From there, Cockrum was quick to impress the of Phil Seuling’s big comic cons in New York in 1972 company brass. “They had just decided to add a Tyranwhen I was penciling ‘The Legion of Super-Heroes’ nosaurus Rex to their ‘Prehistoric Scenes,’ so I went for DC. Andy had a table selling old Aurora kits (for home and did a three-view drawing of a T-Rex. They scandalously low prices) and my friend introduced us. looked at it; they bought it.”58 33
Chapter 3: 1974–1977
I
I. Enter The X-Men
n 1974, an event occurred at the offices of Marvel prise, surprise — when he wasn’t doing anything and Comics in New York City that proved to have a we started to kick around the idea of the X-Men, and long-lasting impact on both the career of Dave he had said that he had always wanted to start a new Cockrum and the industry as a whole. It was during group and sort of treat them like mutant Blackhawks, a meeting attended by Marvel Editor-in-Chief Roy an international group.” Cockrum continued, “I told Thomas, Publisher Stan Lee, and President Al Landau, Roy I’d be interested in doing something like that, and who represented Cadence Industries, the then-owner so he said, ‘All right, I’ll consider you.’ Then he couldn’t of the company, that the idea to bring back the team write it himself, so he first asked Mike Friedrich.”4 In 2003, Friedrich told Alter Ego magazine, “What I of mutant superheroes known as the X-Men began. recall most clearly is one lunch that was held near the According to Thomas, “...Landau mentioned that it Marvel offices with... Roy Thomas, would be a good idea to have an freelance artist Dave Cockrum, and international team of some sort. You myself... What I remember now is see, he had his own company called that Roy had conveyed to me the Trans World, which at the time was idea of an international group of reselling Marvel’s work overseas by characters... and I remember him the page. And he knew that if we... saying, as shorthand, ‘kinda like the had big markets in three or four Blackhawks,’ which, of course, was countries and we had a team that a similar international group, then had three or four characters in it, one out of print.”5 from each country, we’d have a terAccording to Thomas, “I don’t rific hit on our hands overseas. So the think it was acted on right away, new X-Men was actually born to tap although I got a lot of encourageour foreign market.”1 Thomas continued, “[Landau] ment[.]”6 In 1981, Cockrum remembered, mentioned this general, vague idea “[It] was a long time before this got just in passing, without pressing for off the ground, I think actually about it; I countered that I thought it was Cockrum at the 1976 Marvel Con, taken a year, maybe — eight months, ten an excellent idea and I thought we by Sam Maronie. months, or a year. But Roy couldn’t should do it with the X-Men.”2 At that point in the publication’s history, The X-Men devote any attention to it and the whole thing kinda had been converted into a reprint book after having got shelved, but I had drawn up a whole bunch of charbeen cancelled some years before. According to acters.”7 In 1994, Cockrum remembered, “One day, [Roy] Thomas, “...Martin Goodman, the publisher at that walked into the area that I worked in, and he literally time, was on an economy kick. He wanted to bring the told me to go home and come back with some X-Men. book back, but he didn’t want to spend the money [for 3 I was really excited about this, because I liked the team. new material], so he just did reprints for a while.” From there, Cockrum became involved with the But with the exception of Cyclops, I never considered project. According to the artist, “I was hanging around the original characters [to be] all that strong. So I was Marvel in those days looking for something to do, and happy for the chance to reshape things. I practically one day I had a few minutes alone with Roy — surstarted from scratch.”8 43
Promotional artwork introducing the new X-Men, courtesy of David Mandel. (below) The initial instigators who worked with Cockrum on the revival. (top to bottom) Roy Thomas, Mike Friedrich, and Len Wein, all circa 1975, scanned by Manny Maris. X-Men ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
According to Friedrich, “I’m pretty sure Roy did not get approval to go forward right away, which he communicated to me during my occasional follow-ups. During this period, I moved back to my native California, which meant I wasn’t talking to Roy as often[.]”9 Cockrum recalled, “Time passed and Roy decided that now was the time to do something with this. He approached me again. Mike Friedrich was no longer available, so Roy asked Len [Wein] if he wanted to handle it.”10 Remembered Wein, “At one point, Mike Friedrich was supposed to be the writer, but he’d left Marvel by the time the series was actually greenlighted, and I got the job, though I don’t exactly remember the reasons why. I was glad to take it.”11 In 2004, Wein elaborated, “All these long years later, I no longer really recall how Dave and I came to be assigned to the title, but when it came time to put the team together, we were already well ahead of the game. I knew exactly what sort of mix of powers and personalities I was looking for to create a well-rounded group with an inner dynamic that could generate stories for years to come. And Dave had that blessed sketchbook.”12 The sketchbook to which Wein referred was 44
one of many which Cockrum had used throughout the years with characters of his own creation. In 1999, the artist told Jon B. Cooke, “I had a huge stable of my own characters. It’s a story that Len Wein loves to tell about the creation of the New X-Men; I had this huge sketchbook filled with characters I had come up with. Len keeps remembering that I took the X-Men drawings out of that book but that’s not actually true. I made them up separately, but I did have that book of characters. That’s one of the things I loved to do: invent characters.”13 With the creative team in place, the next step was for the pair to select the individual members of the group. While originally the idea was for the X-Men to consist entirely of new characters, Cockrum and Wein decided to keep Cyclops, the original group’s leader, in order to establish a sense of continuity between the two teams. In 1981, Wein told Peter Sanderson, “Cyclops was the only great character among the old X-Men because of the eyeblasts, and the sense of tragedy about the character. And Dave had this new visor in mind he wanted to use, and I really liked it, and that was almost why we kept him: the new visor, because it looked so good.”14 In 2003, Cockrum told Jim Amash, “I don’t
EVOLUTION: Storm
multiple variations before seeing print was the African weather “goddess,” Storm. Cockrum had originally intended for the character to be a shape-shifter called the Black Cat, who “...could transform into a humanoid cat, a cougar or similar large cat, or a tabby housecat,”40 and who had “...dark hair which was sort of like Wolverine’s, tufted on top with the ear effect.”41 Her real name was Tabetha, but she was nicknamed “Tabey,” and wore a collar around her neck which was adorned with a small bell. As luck would have it, during the period in which the X-Men revival was put on hold, “...two or three other female ‘cat’ characters popped up...”42 and a change in strategy was necessary. “It seemed kind of stupid to go on and do another cat character what with all the other ones running around, and so we dropped the whole shtick,” Cockrum told Sanderson in 1981.43 Despite the situation, both writer and artist were reluctant to abandon the character altogether. They had already agreed to include Typhoon, from Cock48
rum’s proposed Outsiders team from his “Legion” period, in the X-Men, and another unused character from the same group, Quetzal, had already played a role in the design of the Black Cat. “Storm’s face came from Quetzal,” Cockrum told Jim Amash in 2004. “I modeled Quetzal on my cat Sheba. I wound up using that face on the Black Cat, and so it naturally turned up on Storm.”44 When it came time to determine what the character’s new powers would be, an off-hand comment by Editor-in-Chief Thomas led to Storm’s creation. “[We] couldn’t figure out what to do with [her],” Cockrum told Sanderson in 1981. “We really liked her, we wanted to use her, and Roy just threw out, ‘Why don’t you make her Typhoon?’ And everybody’s mouths were hanging open.”45 In 1981, Wein recalled, “I had another character in the group, a male called either Tempest or Typhoon... who was going to be a member of the group, and we decided that rather than have all these members, we
(above and right) Preliminary designs for Jean Grey, before she received her new Phoenix costume.
(above) Cockrum’s original Phoenix character, circa 1966. Artwork © Estate of Dave Cockrum.
Jean Grey ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.
most fantastic of events in a world wholly recognizable as our own... Those first issues set the tone that would sustain The X-Men throughout the entirety of my seventeen year run on the book[.]”96 It was shortly after Claremont became author of The X-Men that another original member of the group joined the team. According to Len Wein, “[Jean Grey] was meant to come back in just a few months.”97 The author told Peter Sanderson in 1981, “We were going to revamp her not quite into what Phoenix became, but make her a different character, because we all thought she was a wimp, that she wasn’t worth it.”98 Cockrum concurred with Wein’s assessment of the character. “We felt that she had to be beefed up one way or another,” he told Sanderson in 1981. “[Then] once we figured out the color [of her costume] we agonized over what the hell she did.”99 Cockrum’s initial plans for Phoenix actually predated Wein’s involvement with the book. When the artist first began to compose designs for the new X-Men team, one of the characters he considered for inclusion in the group was Marvel Girl, and he even went so far as to write, “How ’bout a new name?” on a model sheet for the character. In 1981, the artist explained to Sanderson, “The [Phoenix] design was one of the first one or two things
I came up with in the beginning... I did five different variations on a theme, so to speak. They all had the sash and they all had the neck, and I think they all had the gloves and the boots, [but] I’m not sure.”100 “I drew up several costume designs for Phoenix,” Cockrum told Jim Amash in 2003, “and the one I liked best was white with gold boots and gloves[.]”101 When he tried to get the costume approved by editorial, “...Archie Goodwin [who] was Editor-in-Chief... absolutely flat vetoed that costume. He said, ‘You’ll be able to read the back side of the page through her costume.’ With the lousy newsprint we used in those days, he was probably right. I finally came up with a green version — her colors, anyway — and he okayed that.”102 In 2002, Cockrum commented that his new design for Phoenix was, “...one of my very favorite X-costumes.”103 That same year, the artist told Jim Amash, “Once we decided on her becoming the Phoenix, Chris got the idea of killing Marvel Girl off and reviving herself [sic] as the Phoenix.”104 Previously, Cockrum had told Sanderson, “When we introduced Phoenix I don’t think we intended for her to keep super cosmic powers, because the rest of the group becomes superfluous then. We had intended for her to either lose a sizeable portion of it or limit herself one way or another. So yeah, she was 55
Chapter 4: 1976–1982
I
I. Two’s Company
t was while working as the artist on The X-Men tions all morning, and all of a sudden I look up and revival at Marvel that Cockrum’s marriage of nine I see this person [next to the Xerox machine]. Duffy years fell apart. “My folks divorced when I was about Vohland was right next to me doing some inking at the eight,” the artist’s son, Ivan, recalled in 2007. In order board next to mine, and I nudged him. I said, ‘Duffy! to pay the rent, he took on a roommate in the form of Who’s that?’ and he said, ‘Oh! That’s Dave Cockrum. fellow comics industry professional Jim Shooter. He’s working on the new X-Men project,’ and I said, In 2002, Cockrum recalled, “My first wife and I ‘Oh! I’ve seen his work. He’s pretty good.’” broke up, and I had this nice, three-bedroom apart“So I gathered up the stuff I had to take back to ediment in Queens. Shooter was looking for an aparttorial, and I did a long trek around the office... and I ment, and I said, ‘Well, I’ve came up behind Dave. He’s got one.’ And he wound up standing there, Xeroxing 1 moving in.” As to how the pages. I walked by him with two met, the artist laughed, the pages in my arms, and as “Probably because someI walked by, I patted him on body told me he was lookthe tail and said, ‘Nice ass,’ ing for an apartment. I don’t and kept going. And Dave’s remember.”2 In 1994, he like, ‘What? What? Who also laughed when he told was that?’ looking around.” Cliff Meth, “Shooter credShe continued, “By that its me as the guy who saved time, I was out the door and him from having to live at gone. Duffy told me later, 3 the YMCA.” ‘I nearly fell off the chair Shooter informed Dia- Cockrum at his desk at Marvel. Photo by Eliot R. Brown. laughing. I [was] rolling mond’s Scoop newsletter in 2006, “When I first moved around on the floor,’ and Duffy looked like Volstagg. to New York City in 1976, as it happened, Dave had I mean, literally, he looked like Volstagg. He said, a room to rent and I needed a place to live. We didn’t ‘I’m rolling around the floor. When I could catch my know each other at all, but it worked out fine for the breath, I said, ‘Oh, that’s Paty. Don’t worry about her. eight months or so I stayed there. Dave was good-naShe’s harmless.’ So that’s how I met Dave.” tured, easygoing, and easy to get along with — also, The two started dating in October of ’76. Accord4 totally honest and honorable. The place was great.” ing to the future Mrs. Cockrum, “Marv Wolfman It was also in 1976 that Cockrum met another indiwas throwing a Halloween party, and everybody was vidual who would play a significant role in his future. invited. We were all gonna sit around and watch Sat“[I met Dave] in the summer of ’76,” Paty Cockrum urday Night Live and have a good time, but you had to recalled in 2007. “I knew [his] work before I ever met come in costume. I was going in a Scarlet Witch-type him, from fanzines and things like that, and when I costume — not exactly the one that was in the books, first saw [it], I said, ‘Aw, that kid’s going somewhere!’” but I thought that the one that was in the books was Their first encounter occurred in the Marvel bullpen, kinda dull, so I sort of jazzed [it] up — [and] Dave where the then-Paty Greer was working. “[I was] doing wanted to go as Zorro... art corrections and some of the merchandising art at “He had black boots and he had black jeans, and he the time,” she remembered. “I had been doing correchad this black pull-over sweatshirt — actually, I think 67
it was a turtleneck — but he didn’t have a cape. I do Finally, at one time I bearded the lion in his den and believe he had a hat that he could use, and he had said, ‘Now, wait a minute. I’ve got to bring out some swords galore, because he loved fencing... So he had things for you from editorial, and there’s no reason foils and rapiers and all kinds of stuff... but he didn’t why you have to come in to the office. I can bring them have a cape. He [also] only had one of these little black out. Where do you live?’ ‘You can’t come to my house.’ domino masks that you buy in the ten cent store, so ‘Why can’t I come to your house? Do you have a wife he’s telling me, ‘You’d think I’d be okay? I have gloves,’ and 17 idiot children there?’ I couldn’t figure out why he says, ‘but I need a cape.’ I said, ‘Well, I have a cape in the world he didn’t want me to come to his apartat home,’ and he says, ‘You do? Can I borrow it?’ and I ment. said, ‘Y-e-a-h, if you give it back in good condition. It’s “And he said, ‘Well... umm... umm,’ and I said, black satin with a red satin interior,’ and he was like, ‘C’mon! ’Fess up, Godammit, or I’m not going to have ‘Oh, my God! Oh, boy!’ He goes, ‘I will! I will! I will!’ I anything more to do with you.’ And he was like, ‘Well... said, ‘Are you going to be in the offices tomorrow? I’ll ahhh... umm... ahhh... I have... umm... mmm... ahhh... bring it in.’ He says, ‘I’ll make a trip.’ lizards.’ And I said, ‘Lizards?’ and he says, ‘Yeah. Liz“So I went home that night, and on the way home I ards.’ I said, ‘Cool! What kind?’ ‘You like lizards?’ I said, stopped at the local five and ten ‘Yeah! Do you have any snakes?’ cent store, picked up some fabric, And he goes, ‘No, Andrea and actually made him a blousy wouldn’t let me have snakes,’ and Zorro shirt. I picked up a mask I said, ‘No, Richard wouldn’t let — a proper Zorro mask — and I me have any, either.’ He says, ‘You picked up some red [fabric], and like snakes? You like lizards?’ I made him a red cummerbund And I said, ‘Yeah!’ You could see to go with it. I brought that in the the light bulb going on over his next day, and gave it to him to wear head, and I said, ‘What was the to the thing, and he said, ‘Why are problem?’ and he said, ‘Well, you doing this?’ I said, ‘Because every time I took a girl to my Zorro’s one of my favorite charachouse and she saw my lizards, I ters, and you’ve gotta look right. I never saw her again!’ I went, ‘Oh! don’t know what we’re going to do I want to see your lizards,’ and he with the beard.’ He says, ‘I’m not told me about some of the lizards shaving it off.’ ‘Okay.’ he had, and it was really cool.” “So anyway, he went as Zorro, Cockrum’s love of exotic pets and I went as the Scarlet Witch, went all the way back to childand we all had a wonderful time. hood. According to childhood He brought his former wife, friend, Tom Hoffman, “[Dave] Andrea, and when the party was Paty Greer in 1975. Scan courtesy of Manny Maris. and I would go out and catch just about over, he took Andrea snakes and lizards and stuff [in] home, came back, got me, and went home with me. the surrounding prairie around Aurora, and south of He had already told Andrea, ‘Yeah, I’ll take you to the Denver. We’d go out and look for snakes, and we’d catch party,’ [so] he took her home, and then came back and ’em and bring ’em home and keep ’em in cases, and we got me, and spent the night at my house. That’s sort had about every kind of snake that was alive and runof how we got started, and then later on he asked me ning around in Colorado, and lizards and such. It was out on a real date-date, and we just bummed around quite an interesting hobby.” the city. [We] went out to La Crepe, and we may have Cockrum’s first wife, Andrea, recalled, “When we taken in a movie, but I don’t remember. I think we just were living on Guam, we used to do what he used to went for a walk in the park, and rode the carousel, and call, ‘boonie stomping,’ ’cause back then, it was very, that sort of thing.” very undeveloped there. His goal was to catch a big From there, romance blossomed. “He kept coming monitor lizard, which we ended up doing. [It was] four back and forth to my apartment, which was in upper feet long, and we caught it in a big sheet, and we took Manhattan... and I kept saying, ‘Why can’t I come out to it home, and it was David’s pet. He used to walk this your place?’ ‘No, you can’t come out to my apartment.’ thing on a leash, and he named it Slick Ned, after some 68
[comic] strip. Everyone used to think he was whacked, walking this monitor on a little cat leash. Then when we left the island, we released it back into the jungle.” In 1973, Cockrum told Martin Griem, “I have 16 lizards, three newts and a turtle in my studio, and I like to watch them while I’m working. I have to feed ’em and change their water and all that, too.”5 About her former husband’s menagerie, Kline said, “To be honest, I put up with it. It used to drive me crazy. I was afraid of snakes, so I wouldn’t ever have snakes in the house. I know he and Paty had a lot of snakes, but we always had a lot of lizards, and the thing that used to be so creepy was that you’d have to buy all these crickets to feed them, and at the beginning of the month, you’d be listening to crickets all night, but then as time went on, there’d be fewer and fewer of them.” Cockrum maintained a multitude of pets throughout his life, including Macaws, cats, and dogs. About man’s best friend, he wrote online in 2004, “I never had much use for flat-faced dogs before we got Ringo, our original peke. I grew up with collies, which are about as pointy-nosed as a dog gets, and I considered them the most beautiful of dogs, excepting, maybe, salukis, afghans, and greyhounds.” He elaborated, “I’m not sure I’d call the smoosh-face beautiful... but pekes sure can be adorable as hell. And Ringo was my favorite of all the dogs I’ve ever had. And I’ve had some damn good dogs.”6 With common interests in both comic books and pets, Greer and her future husband grew closer together. “We would go back and forth from my place to his place. Finally we said, ‘You know, this doesn’t work. We really should live together, because we’re really compatible. We both like the same things, and I’m a good cook.’” The next step was inevitable. “I moved in with Dave in January of ’77, and I was there for a while. Shooter was in the other bedroom with his girlfriend, and finally I told Shooter, ‘Shooter, get out!’ and he said, ‘I saw this coming,’” laughed Paty. “It was Dave’s apartment — Shooter was just rooming — so Shooter moved out. He had already scoped out an apartment for himself, so he saw it was coming.” While Cockrum and Shooter were rooming together, as fate would have it, the latter was writing the very feature for DC which the artist had walked away from in 1973. “Dave was drawing the Uncanny X-Men back then, [and] I was... writing the Legion of Super-Heroes,” Shooter told Scoop in 2006. “Anyway, Dave loved kibitzing on my Legion stories. He always had good suggestions and insightful comments. Both of us loved the
Legion.”7 One story in particular almost enticed Cockrum back to the series. “When he came up with the Charma and Grimbor story [Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #221], we were still rooming together and I very much wanted to draw it,” the artist wrote online in 2002.8 “I had very strong images on what I thought Charma, especially, should look like.” That same year, he told Glen Cadigan, “The fans were agitating for me to do the artwork on it, and I really wanted to, because I had a visual in mind for Charma. I wanted to use the face of an actress from the ’30s named Helen Mack, and I thought, ‘Oh boy! I can see some great stuff with
While not Charma, this “Exotic Lady” is an example of the same type of character often found in Cockrum’s sketchbooks. © Estate of Dave Cockrum.
69
Chapter 5: 1982–1985
A
I. Tomorrow Is Now
fter a year-and-a-half as the penciller of the The author continued, “The Inheritors abandoned monthly X-Men series, in 1982 Dave Cockrum their time in favor of a more primitive one (right, achieved a goal that he had not yet accomours, you guessed it) that perhaps they could conquer. plished in his entire career: to create a new team of The scientists were unable to physically follow, and superhero characters and retain all rights associated so they did the next best thing: they seeded the past with them. In 1985, he wrote, “The Futurians... is with tailored chromosome packages — genetic ‘time another major milestone for me. It’s the first time I’ve bombs’ — designed to create superior potential in cerset out to do a series with characters that I not only cretain human strains. Terminus then sent the mind of its ated, but that I own myself. This gives me the opportugreatest scientist into the past to occupy the body of a nity to introduce other characters, which means I can 20th Century man, and organize a defense against the finally use some of the hundreds of Inheritors. He arrived into a derecharacters I’ve come up with over lict wino in a back alley in Denver, the past thirty years. I’ve never in 1962.”3 Regarding the full team, the been prolific enough to use many of Futurians were, “...Avatar, a 7,000 them, and also, one becomes relucyear old perfect specimen with tant to give away characters to a enormous power of mind and company so they can get rich while body; Sunswift, a 3,000 year old you get a wart on your nose. WitEgyptian woman whose power ness the New X-Men.”1 Originally launched as Marvel caused her to become too hot to Graphic Novel #9 (1983), “The live on Earth — she now resides in Futurians dealt with the residents of the Sun; Terrayne, the Earthmover, Earth, some five million years in the a former football star turned into a future. Splintered into two warring huge shambling lump of stuff with groups called the Inheritors and the geo-manipulative powers; BlackScientists of Terminus, they strugmane, a very short comic book gled for domination of the Earth. artist transformed into a very tall Both sides having lost all knowland raunchy leonine being; Silkie, edge of space travel, their battles Dave Cockrum in 1984, in a photograph a marine biologist transformed into published in David Anthony Kraft’s Comics were limited to an already ravaged Interview #20 (Feb. 1985). a fish-lady; Mosquito, a world-class Earth. Ultimately, despairing of gymnast and all-around bug-pervictory, the Inheritors used a gigantic tractor-cannon son; Werehawk, a Dakota Indian who’s exactly what called the Sky-Gripper to pull the moon from orbit and the name says; and Silver Shadow, a former spy who drop it onto Terminus, nearly destroying Earth itself in travels through dimensional doorways in shadows. the process. Ordinarily this would’ve ended hostilities, These, then are The Futurians!”4 Out of all the characters, their creator put the most but — Terminus has this really terrific force field. Half thought into the team’s leader. “Avatar... has an incredthe world wrecked, and their city sat there snickering ibly long and complex backstory,” he wrote in 2003. at the Inheritors. This is no way to treat desperate vil“He’s an immortal of extremely long life, and has lains; you’re supposed to lay down and die, or at least 2 been many of history’s most influential men, includwet your pants.” 91
ing Moses, Hammurabbi, King Arthur, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Doc Savage. He’s kind of my take on Superman and Magneto.”5 One Futurian in particular dated back to Cockrum’s days on staff at Marvel. After he had designed a new costume for Ms. Marvel, the artist drew a house ad for the solo series of the character that included a montage of the hero’s upcoming adversaries. In addition to Mystique and another unused character, Warhawk, there also appeared Mosquito, the future Futurian. About the ad, Cockrum wrote in 2002, “I had originally thought of using her as a villainess in Ms. Marvel’s book. I’m glad I didn’t.”6 The entire team was manipulated by Vandervecken, who was actually the consciousness of the Scientist General Callistrax from the far future inside the body of the aforementioned wino. Vandervecken “...spent the next twenty years building a technological empire called Future Dynamics as a power base, and then, just in time for the Inheritors’ arrival in the mid-1980s, organized a group of his genetically-enhanced humans.”7 The character kept the Futurians in line whenever necessary by the use of mental hypnosis, as each member of the group was “...the result of genetic manipulation, which includes a compulsion to use your powers for the benefit of mankind — whether you like it or not!”8 Only Avatar was immune to Vandervecken’s “...trick eyes...” as he had “...burned out your inbred compulsion ages ago.”9 About the graphic novel itself, Cockrum wrote, “[It] was a major milestone to me, as it was the first comics project I ever did more or less on my own, writing, penciling and inking. Of course, I had some first-rate help in those areas I didn’t feel competent at: Jim Novak on lettering, my wife Paty on coloring, and Al Milgrom acting — at my request — as editor. They all did a terrific job [and] I’m proud of the finished product; it’s a good book.”10 In 2001, about the graphic novel, he told Jay McKiernan, “...once the characters were firmly set in my mind, the rest of the story just kind of fell into place. I sat down and typed out the plot over several days, and then drew out the entire story in thumbnails — 72 pages of them.”11 As far as his inspiration for the series, the artist told McKiernan, “I can see influences in Futurians from favorite old sci-fi novels, most notably Arthur C. Clarke’s The City and the Stars, a book I’ve loved since my early teens. In fact, I’m occasionally embarrassed at some of the unconscious pilferage from City: for instance, I have a character, a Scientist General named Callistrax. There’s a minor character in City named ‘Callitrax’. I first discovered that several years after 92
Futurians ™ and © Estate of Dave Cockrum.
Futurians was published, and let out with a very loud ‘OOPS!’ My apologies to Mr. Clarke, any similarities to his fine book were unintentional.”12 The artist’s comic book influences also factored into the volume. He dedicated the book to “...Stan, Jack, Steve, John, Bill, Julie, Murray, Gardner, Murphy, Joe, Gil, Carmine, Curt, Will, C.C., Mac, Jesse, Carl, Dick, Reed, Chuck, Al, and especially Wally — who, with a host of others, blazed the trail and made this work happen — and to Paty, whose magic palette breathed life into it.”13 The Futurians graphic novel “...did pretty well, went to three printings, and a series was called for.”14 However, after publication of the initial Futurians story, the artist was approached by David Singer, the publisher of a new comic book company called Deluxe Comics, to work on a revival of Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. In 2005, Cockrum told Jon B. Cooke, “Then we got talking about my Futurians graphic novel, at a time when I was on the verge of making a deal with Marvel for a continuing Futurians series to appear as an Epic book. But David offered me a huge amount of money, more than Marvel would pay me, to do Futurians for him.”15 In 1984, prior to the launch of the ongoing Futurians
About doing everything except the lettering and the coloring on the mini-series, the artist told Marvel Age, “It takes too long to finish. But other than that, I’m really happy with the result. I think everyone will enjoy what happens to Nightcrawler.”35 In 2000, when asked which comics from his career were his favorites, he put Nightcrawler at the top of the list along with “Kitty’s Fairy Tale” and The Futurians, the three books which he felt were most representative of his life’s work.36
IV. Return of the Futurians In 1985, two years after The Futurians graphic novel had gone on sale, an ongoing Futurians series was launched by Lodestone Publishing. Although Marvel had first right of refusal on the book due to the publisher’s previous publication of the graphic novel, it did not actively pursue the series when the artist was approached by David Singer to work on T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents for Deluxe Comics, and according to Singer, “[We made Dave an offer] that we felt was better than any deal ever offered at Epic, because it would have to be better than Epic in order to beat it, and Marvel looked at it and said, ‘Best of luck, Dave!’ and it was very amicable.”37 Initially, Singer had plans of having the artist illustrate a Dynamo feature in a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents spin-off series entitled Tales of T.H.U.N.D.E.R., but according to the publisher, “...the more we talked to retailers and fans... the first thing out of their mouths was, ‘That’s nice, but when is he gonna do Futurians?’ and eventually we went to Dave and said, ‘Hey, when are you gonna do Futurians?’” In David Anthony Kraft’s Comics Interview #20 (Feb. 1985), the publisher told Dwight Jon Zimmerman, “We’ve got a running joke in the office that we’ve done everything we can to make our books sell... What more could we do to make them sell? We decided there were only two things we could do... One would be to put the name ‘Marvel’ on the cover, and second would be to put Marvel characters on the inside... so we did the next best thing: We went after Marvel characters that were available — Dave Cockrum’s Futurians. It was the most successful Marvel Graphic Novel they published. And it is one of the hottest topics of conversation at conventions. All everybody keeps asking Dave at conventions is, ‘When are you going to do a Futurians series?’ Now we have the answer.”38 Between convincing Cockrum to leave Marvel with the property and the launch of the new title, Singer started a second company, Lodestone Publishing, in order to shield The Futurians, as well as any other
Terrayne and Blackmane shill for The Futurians ongoing series. Futurians ™ and © Estate of Dave Cockrum.
title produced by the publisher, from the lawsuit filed against his parent company, Singer Publishing, for its illegal publication of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. Although Singer denied that there was a connection between the two companies (“Lodestone Publishing, Inc., is a New York State corporation with no legal, financial, or political connections to Singer Publishing Co., Inc.”39), it was apparent to all concerned that, for all intents and purposes, Lodestone and Deluxe were really the same company under different names. The first issue of The Futurians was dated Oct. 1985, and resumed the narrative begun by the graphic novel. Before work began on the series, Cockrum confessed to Zimmerman, “...I haven’t written the thing up yet, but I’ve been shaping the storyline in my head. Amongst other things, I’m going to have to deal with the repercussions of what’s happened after all those meteors dropped on the major cities of the world. This is something that didn’t occur to me, back when I produced the graphic novel.”40 The initial storyline of the ongoing series featured the world in the aftermath of the meteor strike, particularly Manhattan, where Mosquito’s family had lived. 97
EVOLUTION: Hammerhand and Ms. Mercury
Out of all his college-era characters, Hammerhand and Ms. Mercury were Cockrum’s favorites. While Hammerhand remained mostly unchanged (except for new boots in ’77), his wife went from Miss to Níke to Ms., lost her hair band, and switched from blonde to brunette. Hammerhand, Ms.
Mercury ™ and © Estate of Dave Cockrum.
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Chapter 6: 1985–1995
I
I. Catskills Country
n 1985, the same year that saw the publication He said, ‘No, you test out as being diabetic, and we’re of both Nightcrawler and The Futurians ongoing going to put you on oral medications and a very strict series, Cockrum was first diagnosed with the condidiet,’ which he gave to me, and [he] jumped up and tion that would eventually take his life. “He had an ear down and said, ‘You will do this!’ and I said, ‘Okay, infection, and he didn’t know he had diabetes,” recalled fine.’ And Dave was on that for years, and actually lost Paty Cockrum in 2007. “He knew it ran in his family, fifty pounds and was feeling fit and fine and everything but it was probably in about... I’d say Spring of ’85, or else, and then he fell off his diet wagon and started maybe the Fall of ’84 [that] he got an ear infection, eating again, and things went downhill from there. As and he went to the doctor down there for the doctor to they will, when you have diabetes. You can’t fall off the take a look at his ear. The doctor drew some blood and wagon and start eating chocolate, and peanut butter, took some tests, and came back and and all this good stuff again.” nearly had a fit of apolepsy because That same year, the artist and Dave’s sugar level in his blood that his wife made a decision to leave morning was something like 480, the metropolitan New York area where it should be around 100. So for upstate New York. “We lived on he called Dave in, and hauled both Long Island for eight years,” Paty him and me in and read Dave the remembered, “and Dave wanted to riot act. [He] jumped up and down, get off the island because it was too and nearly had a fit. I thought the hot and muggy. I mean, we had an was gonna actually drop CLICK THE LINK air-conditioning bill one summer IF poor YOUman ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, dead in his office. He wanted to send that was $800 a month, and that BELOW TO ORDER THIS BOOK! Dave to a hospital, [but] Dave said, was in the ’70s [or] early ’80s. So we “No.” He said, ‘I want you to see an looked around.” enthroconologist,’ and the enthroShe continued, “He still wanted conologist he wanted [Dave] to see to be close to the city, so I started From the letters pages of Silver comics his 2021 was booked up Age solid forto months. looking around in my old area up Cockrum at a Brooklyn Plastic Modeler’s induction into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, the career of “Basically sheanddid was she Society. Photo by Frank Anderson. there because at that point I had DAVE COCKRUM started atwhat the bottom then rose to the top of the comic book industry. Beginning with his called David and she said, ‘[Your quit Marvel and was doing freelance childhood obsession with comics and continuing through his years in the Navy, THE LIFE ART OF DAVE doctor] sent thisANDover and said that your blood sugar, work, and so we didn’t have any real restrictions on us COCKRUM follows the rising star from fandom (where he when he Three” tested it, was ’ And Dave said, ‘Yeah, that’s except that we wanted to be within driving distance of was one of the “Big fanzine artists)480. to pro-dom, wherewhat he helped two’ struggling comic ‘What book fran-did you have for breakherevive said. She says, the city for editorial conferences and things like that. chises: the LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES and the X-MEN. A that morning?’ hehisproceeded to regale her with So I said, ‘You know, we could look up where I used prolificfast costume designer and characterand creator, redesigns of the the Legionfact and his introduction of X-Men that he had had characters French toast with lots and lots to [live],’ and Dave went up with me at one point, and Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Thunderbird (plus his syrup and butter, and bacon and eggs, and he had looked around and said, ‘Yeah, I like this mountain air. designof of Wolverine’s alter ego, Logan) laid the foundation for both titlescome to become best-sellers. His laterof work on his own property,and THE FUTURIANS, as well as It’s nice and dry. Yeah, I like this up here.’ just off of a week eating cherry apple pies childhood favorite BLACKHAWK and T.H.U.N.D.E.R AGENTS, plus his five years on SOULSEARCHERS that I had made, and aschocolate chip cookies. Shefanzines, said,unused “So we looked around, and I found a house. [At this AND COMPANY, cemented his position an industry giant. Featuring artwork from character designs, and other rare material, this is THE comprehensive biography of the legendary comic ‘Okay. This is the diet I want you on for two weeks, and point,] my former husband would put the boys on a book artist, whose influence is still felt on the industry today! Written by GLEN CADIGAN (The Legion Companion, Titans Volumes 1 and 2, thenThe you goCompanion get tested again. ’ Best of the Legion Outpost) with an introduc- bus and send them to the city, and I would pick them tion by ALEX ROSS! “So he did, and his blood sugar was right back up at Port Authority and then drive them back up (160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $27.95 * (LIMITED EDITION HARDCOVER) $27.95 down to normal, and$14.99 [his •doctor] wouldn’t believe it. sometime Sunday. I had a lot of friends up there, ’cause (Digital Edition) ISBN: 978-1-60549-113-4
THE LIFE & ART OF
DAVE COCKRUM
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